#maximize PR points

[visa4you1]

Australia’s immigration system is based on a points test, where applicants accumulate points based on various factors, such as age, English proficiency, work experience, education, and other qualifications. Achieving a high score on this points test is crucial for receiving an invitation to apply for an Australian Permanent Residency (PR) visa, such as the Skilled Independent visa (subclass 189), Skilled Nominated visa (subclass 190), or Skilled Work Regional (Provisional) visa (subclass 491). In this guide, we’ll break down each factor in the points test to help you understand how to maximize your score and increase your chances of securing PR.

One of the most significant contributors to your overall points score is your age. The Australian immigration system is designed to favor younger applicants, as they are likely to contribute to the workforce for a more extended period.

Proficiency in English is another crucial factor in the points test. The higher your level of English, the more points you can earn.

Your work experience, especially if it’s related to an occupation on Australia’s Skilled Occupation List (SOL), can substantially boost your points score.

Work experience within Australia is highly valued, reflecting your ability to adapt and thrive in the Australian workforce.

Experience Duration: If you’ve worked in Australia for 8–10 years in a skilled occupation, you can earn 20 points.

Why It’s Important: Australian work experience demonstrates your familiarity with the local work culture and systems, making you a more attractive candidate.

Strategies: If you’re already in Australia on a temporary visa, consider gaining as much local work experience as possible before applying for PR.

Your educational qualifications are another significant component of the points test, particularly if you hold a Doctorate degree.

If you’ve completed advanced studies in Australia, particularly in niche areas, you can earn additional points.

Australia is actively encouraging skilled migrants to live and work in regional areas, offering additional points for those who study in these locations.

Proficiency in certain community languages can earn you extra points, reflecting Australia’s multicultural society.

Completing a Professional Year program in Australia can be a valuable way to gain additional points and improve your job prospects.

State or territory governments in Australia can nominate applicants for the Skilled Nominated visa (subclass 190), which provides an additional 5 points.

If your spouse or de facto partner meets specific criteria, you can gain an additional 10 points towards your application.

If your spouse or de facto partner has competent English but does not meet the other criteria for skilled points, you can still earn an additional 5 points.

If you’re applying as a single applicant or your spouse is an Australian citizen or PR holder, you’re eligible for an additional 10 points.

Why It Matters: This category recognizes the lower potential for dependents to be a burden on the system, thereby rewarding single applicants or those with an Australian spouse.

Strategic Advantage: If your partner doesn’t meet the criteria for additional points, you might consider applying as a single applicant to gain these 10 points.

The Skilled Work Regional (Provisional) visa (subclass 491) allows applicants to live and work in regional Australia and offers a substantial 15 points for regional or family sponsorship.

Summery

Maximizing your points for Australian Permanent Residency requires careful planning and a deep understanding of the points test. By focusing on areas where you can improve, such as English proficiency, work experience, or education, you can significantly enhance your chances of receiving an invitation to apply for PR. Whether you’re applying independently, with a partner.

Originally published at https://www.visa4you.co.in on October 24, 2024.

[plusvanity]

Do you have any analysis/opinions on Fenriz?

Generally speaking, everybody loves Fenriz because he is a humble, funny guy and has a picture with a cat in his arms. This is kind of all you need for good PR nowadays, but jokes aside, I see Fenriz as sitting on fences and picking sides (between Øystein and Varg) whenever the circumstances suit his image better. He is a bit of an opportunist from what I see.

He talked greatly about Øystein, calling him the 'anchor' of the Black Metal movement, which is indeed true. He had the chance to go to a Mayhem rehearsal session from what I remember, and he was very impressed about it. So much so that his band Darkthrone sounded like a washed-out version of Mayhem in the early 90s. I don't judge that. He was young, and he found himself in what Øystein and Pelle initiated, so this shows how devoted he actually was to this genre. Øystein was a mentor for many, including Fenriz, of course. He lived very close to Helvete, so he was quite lucky to interact with his friend and mentor so much, but after Øystein's death, it seems like things got in a different direction.

I think he must have been the 'easily impressed' type because I cannot find another way to explain how he started taking Varg's side. And of course, Varg took advantage of that aspect and talked nicely about Fenriz in interviews and on his personal blog where he called everyone from the early scene a 'rat', everyone expect Fenriz. Why? I assume that Fenriz spoiled Varg in compliments in a lot of their early interactions. After all, Vikernes stated that only him and Fenriz were 'preserving' the Norwegian culture by writing lyrics in their mother tongue and it was only Fenriz who got him and his political views.

Narcissists do that a lot. They will protect their source of narcissistic supply by talking nicely and praising you, but it's expected for you to do the same and take their side whenever a finger is pointed at them. Not all narcissists do that, but Varg surely did. This type of behaviour is self-implied, it doesn't need a conversation, and this is what they do even now. 'I will put you in a good light, but I expect the same'. You see, relationships and friendships with a narcissist (Varg) are all transactional. A lot of 'payback' is silently expected.

There was a time in which he was very vocal about praising Burzum and Varg, like they would be in some kind of brotherhood. He ranted about him in interviews, talked about how great of a musician he is and how they live in Tolkien's fantasy world etc, etc.

The first reason for wanting so much to associate himself with Vikernes is admiration.

The second reason, and this one tends to be less noticeable for some people, is marketing. Burzum exploded in notoriety after Varg got in jail for murder and the so-called 'satanists' were more feared than ever. It is obvious that if you want to 'get a taste' of fame and maximize your band profit, you will (one way or another) associate yourself with the most popular and controversial individual at the time.

Fenriz, like many others, tries to remain relevant in a scene that is dying out, unfortunately. His strategy is different than others, but the outcome is the same.

I'm not saying he is a bad person, that you should hate him or anything like this. I just present things as I see them.

I don't think that he is just as underhanded and shady as Varg, but I'm not a big fan of him either.

Anyway, this is my take in him.

[fuckyourchampionship]

My Thoughts on the Sprint

(You’ve Been Warned)

Let’s start with the fact that, in reality, everyone knew about this—Oscar, Zak, Stella. They had discussed it beforehand, before the Sprint, that Lando would give up the win as compensation for Brazil. However, they didn’t expect Russell to be so fast and constantly close behind Oscar, which made the swap risky. That’s why, over the radio, they told Norris not to do it. But Norris went ahead anyway because he was determined to make up for Brazil at all costs. In doing so, he managed to create some excellent PR for himself—and I have to admit, whoever is advising him on his image is doing an outstanding job.

Everything would have been fine and wonderful if not for the radio messages and Lando constantly whining and asking his engineer whether he had to give Oscar DRS. Supposedly, he had been planning to let Oscar win ever since Brazil, but if it weren’t for his engineer, he probably wouldn’t have cared. That Sprint was almost identical to the one in Brazil: one teammate was ahead, giving the other DRS because the latter didn’t have the race pace. The only difference was that one of them made a drama out of it, complaining over the radio, but ultimately gave up the position.

Then they got out of the cars, and the only person who was genuinely happy was Zak Brown—and that alone should tell you everything about this Sprint. All the landoscar fans are celebrating, but just look at Oscar’s face or even Lando’s. And, of course, the interviews happened, with Norris saying it’s just a Sprint and doesn’t really count (which is true), but does he really believe that? Look at how he almost cried in Qatar last year or how often he mentioned in interviews that Oscar won before him. Or that post-Hungary interview where he said Oscar technically had two wins, and the journalist corrected him, saying the first was "just a Sprint." But never mind.

Now, both of them have a clean slate. Neither owes the other anything, so heading into 2025, they can race however they want—I hope without team orders.

From the perspective of the team, which is fighting for the Constructors' Championship, this Sprint was executed brilliantly. They maximized the points and stayed ahead of Ferrari.

As for the rest of this season, it’s been said they can race each other, but everyone knows McLaren won’t allow it because a collision could cost them the Constructors'. So, the real fight between them will likely start in 2025 (and I can’t wait for them to go at each other’s throats, haha). For now, though, I fully understand that the priority is winning the Constructors'.

To sum up, great PR on Norris’ part, but his fans are ruining it quickly. If you’ve been on Twitter, you know what I mean.

your thoughts are welcome and discussions on this topic if you want you can as anon or in the comments

[samueldays]

Contra Yishan: Google's Gemini issue is about racial obsession, not a Yudkowsky AI problem.

@yishan wrote a thoughtful thread:

Google’s Gemini issue is not really about woke/DEI, and everyone who is obsessing over it has failed to notice the much, MUCH bigger problem that it represents. [...] If you have a woke/anti-woke axe to grind, kindly set it aside now for a few minutes so that you can hear the rest of what I’m about to say, because it’s going to hit you from out of left field. [...] The important thing is how one of the largest and most capable AI organizations in the world tried to instruct its LLM to do something, and got a totally bonkers result they couldn’t anticipate. What this means is that @ESYudkowsky has a very very strong point. It represents a very strong existence proof for the “instrumental convergence” argument and the “paperclip maximizer” argument in practice.

See full thread at link.

Gemini's code is private and Google's PR flacks tell lies in public, so it's hard to prove anything. Still I think Yishan is wrong and the Gemini issue is about the boring old thing, not the new interesting thing, regardless of how tiresome and cliched it is, and I will try to explain why.

I think Google deliberately set out to blackwash their image generator, and did anticipate the image-generation result, but didn't anticipate the degree of hostile reaction from people who objected to the blackwashing.

Steven Moffat was a summary example of a blackwashing mindset when he remarked:

"We've kind of got to tell a lie. We'll go back into history and there will be black people where, historically, there wouldn't have been, and we won't dwell on that. "We'll say, 'To hell with it, this is the imaginary, better version of the world. By believing in it, we'll summon it forth'."

Moffat was the subject of some controversy when he produced a Doctor Who episode (Thin Ice) featuring a visit to 1814 Britain that looked far less white than the historical record indicates that 1814 Britain was, and he had the Doctor claim in-character that history has been whitewashed.

This is an example that serious, professional, powerful people believe that blackwashing is a moral thing to do. When someone like Moffat says that a blackwashed history is better, and Google Gemini draws a blackwashed history, I think the obvious inference is that Google Gemini is staffed by Moffat-like people who anticipated this result, wanted this result, and deliberately worked to create this result.

The result is only "bonkers" to outsiders who did not want this result.

Yishan says:

It demonstrates quite conclusively that with all our current alignment work, that even at the level of our current LLMs, we are absolutely terrible at predicting how it’s going to execute an intended set of instructions.

No. It is not at all conclusive. "Gemini is staffed by Moffats who like blackwashing" is a simple alternate hypothesis that predicts the observed results. Random AI dysfunction or disalignment does not predict the specific forms that happened at Gemini.

One tester found that when he asked Gemini for "African Kings" it consistently returned all dark-skinned-black royalty despite the existence of lightskinned Mediterranean Africans such as Copts, but when he asked Gemini for "European Kings" it mixed up with some black people, yellow and redskins in regalia.

Gemini is not randomly off-target, nor accurate in one case and wrong in the other, it is specifically thumb-on-scale weighted away from whites and towards blacks.

If there's an alignment problem here, it's the alignment of the Gemini staff. "Woke" and "DEI" and "CRT" are some of the names for this problem, but the names attract flames and disputes over definition. Rather than argue names, I hear that Jack K. at Gemini is the sort of person who asserts "America, where racism is the #1 value our populace seeks to uphold above all".

He is delusional, and I think a good step to fixing Gemini would be to fire him and everyone who agrees with him. America is one of the least racist countries in the world, with so much screaming about racism partly because of widespread agreement that racism is a bad thing, which is what makes the accusation threatening. As Moldbug put it:

The logic of the witch hunter is simple. It has hardly changed since Matthew Hopkins’ day. The first requirement is to invert the reality of power. Power at its most basic level is the power to harm or destroy other human beings. The obvious reality is that witch hunters gang up and destroy witches. Whereas witches are never, ever seen to gang up and destroy witch hunters. In a country where anyone who speaks out against the witches is soon found dangling by his heels from an oak at midnight with his head shrunk to the size of a baseball, we won’t see a lot of witch-hunting and we know there’s a serious witch problem. In a country where witch-hunting is a stable and lucrative career, and also an amateur pastime enjoyed by millions of hobbyists on the weekend, we know there are no real witches worth a damn.

But part of Jack's delusion, in turn, is a deliberate linguistic subversion by the left. Here I apologize for retreading culture war territory, but as far as I can determine it is true and relevant, and it being cliche does not make it less true.

US conservatives, generally, think "racism" is when you discriminate on race, and this is bad, and this should stop. This is the well established meaning of the word, and the meaning that progressives implicitly appeal to for moral weight.

US progressives have some of the same, but have also widespread slogans like "all white people are racist" (with academic motte-and-bailey switch to some excuse like "all complicit in and benefiting from a system of racism" when challenged) and "only white people are racist" (again with motte-and-bailey to "racism is when institutional-structural privilege and power favors you" with a side of America-centrism, et cetera) which combine to "racist" means "white" among progressives.

So for many US progressives, ending racism takes the form of eliminating whiteness and disfavoring whites and erasing white history and generally behaving the way Jack and friends made Gemini behave. (Supposedly. They've shut it down now and I'm late to the party, I can't verify these secondhand screenshots.)

Bringing in Yudkowsky's AI theories adds no predictive or explanatory power that I can see. Occam's Razor says to rule out AI alignment as a problem here. Gemini's behavior is sufficiently explained by common old-fashioned race-hate and bias, which there is evidence for on the Gemini team.

Poor Yudkowsky. I imagine he's having a really bad time now. Imagine working on "AI Safety" in the sense of not killing people, and then the Google "AI Safety" department turns out to be a race-hate department that pisses away your cause's goodwill.

---

I do not have a Twitter account. I do not intend to get a Twitter account, it seems like a trap best stayed out of. I am yelling into the void on my comment section. Any readers are free to send Yishan a link, a full copy of this, or remix and edit it to tweet at him in your own words.

[jimin-updates]

The remix streaming plan 📝

In about twelve hours we are getting six new remixes of ‘Who’ and an alternate cover of the original song. These remixes are vitally important to Jimin’s chart success this week and we have three days to make the most of them.

1. If you are US/PR based, buy each remix track separately in as many places as you can - iTunes, Amazon, etc

2. Then, everyone stream like this:

With thanks to @JiminGlobal for the guide!

REMEMBER we have two goals: for the album and for the Hot 100.

Hot 100: A top 20 debut on the Hot 100 requires about 20k sales and 18 million streams. We currently have 7 million streams and an unknown number of sales. All the new versions of ‘Who’ will combine for streaming points!

Album: Ten digital tracks sold equals one album, so we’re buying the remixes separately to maximize our album equivalent sales. And we’re equally prioritizing the album in our streams because we need to make up the physical difference with the other new release!

We can do this! We have three days and love for Jimin to make this happen. 💪🏻💪🏻

[skullsmuldon]

"She’ll also add a critical look on her face while doing it so it looks more credible/professional."

Yooooo. I literally gasped! The shade, Skuls!!

How many awkward moments do you think there are in that household considering so much of her work, whether at the shop or on her own, revolves around... weddings?

---

She arrives home and he's like, "how was your day?"

And she goes, "Beautiful, my love. Weddings are so wonderful! My favorite part of this job! I get so many ideas for... my own???"

---

A bit awkward, no?

Maybe not.

I hope she maximizes this opportunity, although I do think she's pretty close to locking him down so she can spend the rest of her life inviting friends over to lounge together by the pool (He strikes me as being done with dating. He's got it too easy at this point.)

What's the saying? "It's not how you start, it's how you finish..."

She clearly has friends willing to give her business, as this wedding was through her friends. And she could tap into the grown children of his circle of friends who are getting married, and she really, truly could build a solidly successful business for herself in that area where there IS so much wealth.

(I mean, at this point, surely she's made a contact or two. Right? DD isn't exactly an anomaly in Hollywood where men date much younger and are familiar with the concept of sugar babies and their endeavors like modeling, influencers, event planners, etc).

It's a hard job market out there! If there's ever a chance to take a risk on building something, it's definitely when you don't have a single bill to worry about.

Ah, what is that feeling even like, I wonder?

Anyways. You always make me laugh!!

You are welcome 😅😂 I make myself laugh too it’s such a shitshow.

This is no serious business to me more like a PR stunt. Same like when they pretended she was an alumni or a pro athlete when both is a lie. Anything to make DD look less like she was smoothie shopping for a sugarbaby to mold to his wishes.

I’m sure there are friends willing to give her work but there only so many weddings for friends who can have and tbh if you aren’t willing to pass off her arrangements as bohemian or free spirit wildflower interpretations/designs it looks like my godchild who picked a flower bouquet from the forest for me. Definitely not sth I would pay thousands and thousands of dollars for.

DD (his own word) is afraid of dying alone so pretty sure they’ll marry at some point. It’s a win win for him, he can still do what he wants and who he wants, and she’ll stick around until he dies takes what she’ll get out of being a widow buys herself some beach cottage and lives her farmer market lifestyle.

She isn’t “Hollywood pretty” enough to attract a real big shot geezer like Brad Pitt or any of the other creepers. She is also too old by now. She might be able to get a normal non famous guy if she wants that.

Look at those masterpieces I could have never… the child safety on the scissors would have prevented me… ( those who know know😂)

[silentreigns]

Japanise GP Reflection

I got a nap in so I will be able to put together a coherent summary of how I felt about the race. There was nonstop action which is always great. I wasn't bored for a single moment

How did so many cars make contact in the first lap, and nobody immediately retired afterwards? Well eventually they did but I was surprised to see a lot of them still racing for a few laps after

A part of me wants Checo to succeed because I really don't want that PR guy taking his seat. The circumstances in which PR has gotten a seat on the grid back is downright nasty. And I don't care if I sound bitter to his fans. He still doesn't deserve a spot back in F1. And another part wants Checo to not get anymore points as that will make it easier for Lewis to be P2 in the driver's standings

Also, another addition to my conspiracy (of the FIA allowing RedBull to get away with things) is whatever tf RedBull were doing, allowing Checo to come back out. Apparently, there's actually no rules against this? But I can see them implementing something afterwards so other teams don't exploit this

I'm so proud of Oscar. He's grown so much as a driver this season and he will only get better and better. "If you had more pace why didn't you just overtake on the track" because he's not trying to ruin his tires

Nothing wrong with Lando suggesting team orders with Oscar because he was the quicker one of the two 🤷‍♀️. It all worked out in the end

Charles had a race weekend where nothing went wrong. Well I saw a clip on twitter of Xavi suggesting a strategy and Charles turning it down. Good for him. I can't help but wondering how he's reacting to the streak of 4th place finishes though

Mercedes you need to get on your zoom. The task at hand is to finish P2 in the driver's and constructor's championship. Which means maximize the amount of points possible. Ferrari are still finishing races with more points than y'all are. Like they haven't made any huge mistakes since the summer break. Charles and Carlos have closed the gap significantly

Feels like I'm in an episode of the Twilight zone because another team's strategy blunder worked for Charles's benefit. It's usually the other way around

This makes me have more questions. Instantly, the audience at how saw that switching places would have been the most efficient. George's tires had already degraded a lot. So why does it take Toto, who's recovering from surgery and is not even there, to make that call? Get it together!

Y'all why does it feel like this team is too stubborn? They're not listening to Lewis! For the DRS strategy to work, they would both need some pace in the tires and only one of them did. I got secondhand embarrassment when Carlos called it out like omg...

Alonso seemed maaaaaaaad like we are seeing the cracks starting to show. I don't think that 33rd win is coming this season. But he was calm in the post-race interview so I don't know

Lance went front P17 to P9 and had to retire due to reliability. I just want him to score points again this is not fair 😔

Why tf did AlphaTauri not give Yuki the optimal strategy? If he had more pace, swap positions with Liam! I saw that he was in DRS range for a lot of laps but didn't get why they didn't call for team orders. Such a missed opportunity, and it hurts even more that it was his home GP

So like did Alpine give Esteban orders and not tell Pierre? That's so messy they should have held the positions until the end

[llort]

Concise Guide to Developing a Neuroscience Based BBC Sherlock Holmes Esq Mind Palace

Following is a condensed and concise guide for you to develop similar sorts of mental mastery as Sherlock displays in the amazing British interpretation of Sir Conan Arthur Doyle's beloved character. I use this mind map everyday for basically everything and I don't think that there is any area of my life that hasn't been improved in someway by engaging with its mechanics.

This mindmap was designed to be useful in almost all life circumstances and there is a great deal of flexibility and modifications that can be made to its use to be tailored to your own particular needs to maximize utility and functionality

The key to this system is that there are six main inputs of which all you have to do is think of one of the six directions in orthogonal Euclidean space. I chose each direction in correlation to the general theme of the cognitive heuristic that you want to "activate" with the general function of the region of (the majority) of peoples brain has somewhat localized centers dedicated to said cognitive pattern.

The labelling of these directions is arbitrary and feel free to define your own characterization or order of inputs however I just listed my ontology as is I use it IRL.

+z/-z -> 1, 2 (or forward/back) respectively

-x/+x -> 3, 4 (or left/right) respectively

-y/+y 5, 6 -> (pr down/up) respectively

It is key to keep in mind of your mind that -z is essentially just the direction that your eyes face as set in your skull for a point of reference.

Below is a table summarizing these inputs along with a brief description of each directions psychological and cognitive theme

Each "direction" can be further broken down by applying the six inputs again which results in six main branches and thirty six sub branches, the initial thematic aspect behind the choice of the first six inputs are extrapolated and carried through into the assignment of the sub set of the thirty six sub branches so there is a degree of logical organization of the resultant four dimensional meta cognitive structure (four dimensions as inputs will be repeatedly done temporally as needed)

The mental representation of the MM will look like the image above with the caveat that in all Euclidean directions, there would be an addition MR unit facing out of each plane which would be 1, 1/2, 2/3,3/4,4/5,5/6,6 respectively. Also inputs that "bounce back" such as 1, 2/2,1 3,4/4,3 and so on are considered to be unique inputs as its the pathing and tracing out of these inputs mentally which acts non-combinatory to result in a total of thirty six unique sub branches.

There may be a lot of unfamiliar terminology, especially acronyms which I have developed just mostly for my own use before I decided to put this memeplex out into cyberphysical reality, if there are any terms or concepts that anyone is unsure about feel free to ask but I am going to define everything in Unsignificant Sentience eventually.

Key to understanding and using this list is that each integer corresponds to one pole of a base Euclidean axis

One: active

1 1 Sense, Attention and Action (Non-selective/Selective and/or Undirected/Directed Attention), AAPM (Active Attentional Perception Model)

1 2 Perceiving, Observing, and Introspection, SVD

1 3 Logic, MM Model Axioms and Experimentation, ISR, EGC Outcomes

1 4 Assessment Describing, +y/MR/ME EIOSA Modelling

1 5 CBT, BH, Working Memory

1 6 Specific Thinking, Frame Encoding, and MEs Applications and Management (Inter branch/Sub Branch)

In your minds eye the pathing thought trace input should result in something like this.

Two: personal

2 1 All Current Recursive Conscious Perception (EIOSA Analysis/Awareness)

2 2 Narrative, Identity Management, Frames, Auxiliary SA/EMA, Qualia

2 3 R4, ME, (in vivo UJF Functionality/Integration)

2 4 Beliefs, Values, Hopes, Ethics, Dreams (+DRD4 content)

2 5 Memory, Mnemonics, AE Encoding and Recall

2 6 Consciousness + VSM/UJS Models, Influencers (5 x) and CT Management CTx PPF, PQ

I will only fill out one more guide for the inputs for the Third Branch as it should be pretty easy to extrapolate the pattern by this point

Three: planning, logic, and structure

3 1 Dynamic Planning and Situational Awareness, (ME0002)

3 2 Skills and Technical Application/Adaption/Singular Module: Heuristic Focus

3 3 Active Goals and Projects/Schedule, Mnemonics

3 4 Habits/Predispositions/Routines/Baselines (SETS, Blooms Taxonomy) and limitations, Re (self-imposed and/or Real Boundaries), Frames and Physiological/Psychological Patterns

3 5 Resource Management

3 6 Ideas or Future Goals and Projects/Personal Engineering, USF, CMM, NWF

Four: Systems, Creative, and Communication

4 1 Agent Based, Observance and Interaction with Systems Associated and Context Awareness, ToM EIOSA

4 2 Persona and Ego Management

4 3 Reality, Social and Communication, Systems Identification/Interaction/Alteration/Mechanisms Options, Sets/OMA7, Objective EI IRL Network Corresponding to Meta Frameworks

4 4 MR/ME Grids + Practice/Enactment In Vivo

4 5 Communication and Sapir Whorf Language Management, Social Analysis and Responses

4 6 Ontology and Frame Engineering, Perspective Theory

Five: health

5 1 Physical Health (ER AnE + Diet/Hydration/Sleep/Medication)

5 2 Mental Health (ME0005/ME0010 Checks and Reconciliation)

5 3 Self Management and Contingencies

5 4 State of Other Systems, EISOA x, x,, (MR of Self Same) (States in Regards to Meta-Systems)

5 5 Applied Mindful Meditation, Self Awareness (Recursivity), and Reality Checking, PQ

5 6 Cognitive Health (DRD4 quality + CIA quality)

Six: knowledge

6 1 Technology

6 2 Philosophy

6 3 Engineering

6 4 General/Cultural

6 5 Frameworks

6 6 Science

Viable System Model based MM systems

The viable system model is a cybernetic theory and model utilized to model entities so that they remain viable and resilient in the fact of change. The model itself was derived from the physiological evo psych based compartmentation of function present in the human brain. I am going to do a post on VSMs at some point but the Wikipedia link is there if anyone is interested.

Below is a rough guide to what MM outputs correlate to each system in a viable system model

System One: 1 x , 3 3, 3 5, 6 x

System Two 2 1-3

System Three 3 1-3

System Four 4  x, 5 x, 6 x

System Five 2 4-6, 3 4-6

As shown by this highly scientific diagram, there is a general localization of specific cognitive and mental phenomena associated with each hemisphere and I hope that on some level that the mental action of enacting an input to the corresponding area of the brain that is more generally specialized in carrying out that processing might improve the effectiveness and/or efficiency of that given task. I would love to get an hold of an EEG and do some digging but that is a future project

So aside from forcing 42 specific commands into your brain, let alone the time required to practice utilizing this mind map in vivo, there is unfortunately another set within the +y knowledge branch where each domain of knowledge has ten subsets in order to break down learning and assimilating new information into more discrete chunks in order to facilitate recall and synthetizing of a priori knowledge.

This is one module of many such systems I have developed to try to be able to reproducibly able to self actualize on a daily basis.

There is an ungodly amount of extra details and systems that I have curated, developed, and refined regarding the MM and some of them are evident in some of the seemingly occult acronyms scattered throughout this document.

I was going to create an ARG game for later on in this year of 2023 after I finished the Unsignificant Sentience trilogy and I was going to make mechanics such as this MM part of the way to play the ARG and to get players immersed in the world building but I just want to get some of my ideas out there as I have been working on too many projects in a vacuum

I am done screaming into the void

[inchidentally]

Little addition to the talk about Oscar's PR management and pushing Lily a bit more into the light.

I agree with everything the other anon said but I'd like to add how it also means they are portraying Lando and Oscar differently.

Clearly, along the 2023 season we saw McLaren media leans more and more towards the slightly shippy "Landoscar" theme.

Not in a too obvious way but there were little nods towards the ship.

In 2024, we still got some little things (the picture from Barcelona, the "Osc", etc...) but it's more subtle, more leaning between shipping and friendship.

And for me it goes along with the want to picture Oscar as someone reliable and serious by showing is relationship with Lily more and also having him involved in other activities (like the Reef thing).

They are slowly letting us know that Oscar is more than just a driver and a cute boy. He has a personality, interests and a life outside of the track.

As a shipper, I hope we will soon get more funny Landoscar content to play with.

As someone interested in communication and marketing, I love trying to understand what is happening behind the scenes!

I totally see that and tbh it fits with him hiring a social media manager that AND the Andrea press release about changing their media duties around. tho the intention they gave for that was for Oscar and Lando to have more down time which hasn't actually happened bc they've both stayed just as busy but separately.

I have an anon I'm sitting on bc there's a LOT to address and some of it feels a little too .... idk tricky. but their point was that McLaren want to renege a bit on the whole 'Lando and Oscar doing everything for the team and not being in competition with each other' now that McLaren is officially up there fighting consistently for podiums and the top 3 or 4 championship spots. that splitting them up more in terms of media duties COULD be a way of creating space for them to have if not a full on rivalry then a Charles and Carlos type of competition.

the thing is that Lando and Oscar on their own keep saying how much they work together and share data and have the same needs for the car etc and that they want healthy motivation between each other.

but also I think for anyone who's had to work in a committee or be a part of regular team meetings there's also got to be the reality of someone coming in and saying 'let's change things up!' to maybe keep their job or stand out and it ends up being sort of a mess and maybe the old system was actually just fine alsfgjlsagfhljsfa it's truly possible that this whole Reputation era revamp is going to prove to be a mistake or that it's just not being very well executed.

bc I can't say that pulling Oscar away from Lando is ever going to work well for him when Oscar just isn't interested in being The Guy. he wants to show up and do his job and compete and then go home lol. so it ends up that not only do fans not get the fun teammate content they've come to expect from McLaren with the previous two teammates, it also means that super motivated Lando is maximizing on every opportunity and becoming a bigger star on his own - while Oscar has to struggle to meet the media's needs for energy and dynamism without having someone he knows he can bounce off of. the Esteban RC car thing was just... ok lol. that's not what any of us would like to see him spending his time filming. the Great Barrier Reef thing is nice but it's not the same as Seb or Lewis bc as Oscar even said he only ever really knew much about the issue from school. and most of Oscar's life is spent away from that issue and away from Australia. (he even kinda said that it was a great side benefit of being able to stay in Australia longer and have Lily involved instead of heading right back to MTC)

fundamentally, Oscar wants to have more time for his private life and he doesn't want to broadcast it- and I think that if they simply dropped the silly challenges and just gave Lando and Oscar a topic in a free moment and filmed it then Oscar could have more time away from filming and we as fans would get Lando and Oscar's real relationship that's fun and cute but without them feeling awkward at being told to dance and perform. the whole thing would be way less pressure for both Oscar and Lando.

remember, Lando isn't naturally like that! Carlos and Daniel learned that PR bromance game early in their careers and play it well but Lando follows their lead and basically reacts to them! early 2019 Lando was basically a featherless little chick watching Carlos with big eyes and squawking at how funny he was but he was sooooo nervous and twitchy about being on camera until he learned to copy Carlos' humor and bounce it back to him.

so genuinely when Lando and Oscar are just allowed to talk normally, it takes less time than setting up for elaborate challenges and they'd both feel more relaxed and get more time off.

[paddockpr]

I'd be curious to hear your thoughts on the shift in perception on Charles throughout his stint at Ferrari. I got into F1 around the time he joined Ferrari when Seb was still there and saw the shift from very positive (Sauber-early Ferrari days) to quite negative (2019-2020 ish), and now that I'm back into F1 it seems to have gone back to more or less positive. But he seems to be pretty much the same?

Hey anon, thank you for the wait, its finally time to get into Charles Leclerc. One of the easiest ways to understand the nature of his PR image is to consider the term often used to describe him "il predestinato" or the predestined. In sports pr, one of the most powerful things is a good story, a compelling narrative, that positions someone as fated for great heights. We will cover a unique motorsports pr issue for drivers, the implications of that when it comes to narratives in sports around fate, Charles own associated affinity for and with Ferrari and then establish why Charles PR had this transformation.

But the thing about how narratives are crafted around people, being of their own volition or due to other people's interests, one thing remains: when it comes to sports PR, the shift in perceptions and narratives have a lot to do with the ability to walk a tight rope.

In a sport like F1, and actually motorsports as a whole, there is one extra issue that arises that is different from other sports, which is the consequences of your teammate being your biggest competition but belonging to the same team and therefore needing to maximize the team's points for the WCC, but beat your teammate in the WDC. That then crates one very common PR issue for drivers in F1: how do you decide who is entitled to what? And that is what happened and even happens with Charles, There are all of these ideas of fate, and all of the things he is supposed to get, its predestined, it is fate.

Benefits of being a marketable rookie

When Charles first came to Sauber he had a couple of things working in his favor, Number one, people look forward to rookies having their debut, and Charles has the kind of image that appeals to this idea of F1 royalty and I mean that quite literally, but probably not how you may initially think. I want to take you back to the fact that when people think of Charles, they think of this idea of fate and predestiny and a sort of Meant To Be thing. He is from a country with one of the most widely recognized GPs, he is a fast driver for whom many already feel is a future WDC winner, he comes across as relatively mild mannered and playful off of the track, and he seems to have cross appeal regardless of what kind of F1 fan someone is.

The fans who decry a return to "tradition" like the kind of wealth and prestige associated with his country, it is also in Europe, he has the look of drivers before him etc and he is inoffensive to the status quo. Fans that are looking for a personable individual like him because to them he has an ease about him, he doesn't seem to have a particularly antagonistic relationship with any other driver, and he is more accessible than the "tradition" of drivers before him.

He also has a well known love for Ferrari and is all around very malleable. That is not to say that he is bland, but he is unassuming and that also feeds into how some of his behaviors are received compared to other drivers. A perhaps comparable PR example for the 2020s but to a lesser extent is Oscar Piastri, someone who replaces a driver that isn't yet moving to retire, but then having a relatively broad appeal, online presence, and is viewed as competitive without being antagonistic,

It is an appealing position for a rookie in terms of marketing, although it also is a privileged one that isn't afforded to rookies who are marginalized in some capacity (Yuki Tsunoda is a great recent example of this). But it is an PR positioning that is ideal as was the case with Charles, To be seen as having what it takes to be a WDC one day, but not being seen as entitled and also generally having a positive image re other drivers. We will delve into that a liiiittle more before we finally get to Ferrari.

Alfa Romeo and The Rookie of the Year

When he joined Alfa Romeo, he replaced Pascal Wehrlein and it is met relatively positively. However,for newer fans here, it was not as cut and dry as it is now. Paul was injured prior to the 2017 season competing in ROC (Race of champions) leading to him missing 2 rqces and then was replaced in 2018 by Leclerc.

It wasn't so cut and dry because as you probably have seen, motorsports fans often argue about whether or not drivers in various series should do more competing in other motorport events (Daytona 500 and Le Mans are another example of this), so the way that the situation was handled was seen negatively. Often, including in this case, rookies get grace but it is not all sunshine and rainbows, especially since, in Charles' case he was replacing someone outperforming their teammate. Of course when we look back it seems less extreme and nowadays Paul is often used as a cautionary tale for why F1 drivers should not compete in other series whilst still active in F1 but F1 drivers competing in other series was not always unusual. The narrative around all of this re Charles was that he was just that promising. So he joins and its not exactly a WDC or WCC winning car, but it is enough for people to take notice and buy into this sort of destiny branding that began to really solidify.

Charles Leclerc met those expectations for the most part, and was crowned rookie of the year. And all of that romanticism around him being made for F1, and predestined, was in the eyes of many, evidenced by that rookie year, Now it is all coming together, there is just one thing left to really take this romantic destiny/fate idea to really resonate with mainstream audiences: Forza Ferrari.

Ferrari, the Early Days

Now Ferrari is a bit of a peculiar thing when it comes to PR and branding. Like Monaco, Ferrari is glamour, it is wealth, it is prestige and it is history. The race car emoji is red, people recognize Ferrari when race cars are the topic at hand, it has had notable names driving for it in F1, Le Mans etc.

For better or for worse in the eyes of many, Ferrari IS F1 it IS motorsports and it boasts one of the biggest fanbases too. It is red hot, it is passion, it is electric. But Ferrari is also notorious in the eyes of many as being something of an antagonist, and a negative player in more progressive moves in motorsports, and has a very tight leash on its image such as suing people for unauthorized paint jobs or author customizations of their Ferrari like with Daedmau5. There is a very strict approach in Ferrari about how things should be done and that extends to how they expect their drivers to appear. This is relevant to how the promising rookie briefly becomes disliked alongside Vettel.

Okay so he is predestined, he has made his mark as a rookie and replaces 1 time WDC Kimi Raikkonen to be alongside 4 time WDC Sebastian Vettel. You can probably guess what I am about to say, but I will say it anyways: replacing someone with no WDCs is very different from replacing someone with 1 or more. It makes comparisons of performance stricter, it makes expectations higher and it makes people less forgiving. It is also further complicated by pairing alongside someone who has been WDC.

When Charles kined alongside Vettel he was dealing with someone who at the very least had been viewed by the public as trying to push the team culture in a direction that may yield better results, and he had the results to back himself up, But Charles was new and that meant him being assimilated into the team and that impacted his image, He has a 4 time WDC to learn from, in a team that has not won the WCC in a very long time. To audiences, he is not being who they thought he was at his former team.

You see, when people speak of drivers from a PR perspective, there is a lot of emphasis on how they command things, what they are entitled to, and what role they should have.

As the fated one, Charles was expected to be less amicable to Ferrari's team culture especially since a more experienced driver could see clear issues in the team's culture, and audiences did not have the impression that Charles recognized when he needed to be assertive, and when he should back his teammate.

So for a lot of people, he was in the right team, and he had the right talent, but the approach was wrong and he was not taking heed of lessons he could be learning from his more experienced teammate. It is a difficult balancing act PR wise, because of the nature of the PR of the team he is in, and also the way that its branding has made it so personally meaningful to tifosi.

Big fanbase that wants drivers that love the team, and prior to this latest pairing of Leclerc and Sainz, was big on supporting the team not the driver, notoriously so. It would probably have been even more negative of him to seem critical of the team, but it was a Catch 22 because what happened instead was that whilst him and Vettel seemed relatively amicable, only one of them was viewed as trying to win WCC and WDC whilst the other was seen as someone falling short of their potential, in the name of loving a team that had been losing for a long time.

Generally when it comes to Ferrari it is more logical from a PR perspective to be seen as viewing the team the way its fans do. A sort of reverence and pride for its prestige, history and Italian heritage. A sort of serendipitous occurrence in a driver's life.

It is one of the few teams where the team has always come before the driver in terms of priority. It is the expectation at this point. You are not supposed to seem like you think you deserve something when you drive for Ferrari, especially when you are new so it was always going to shake out the way it did from a PR perspective. Either he alienates audiences that feel that Ferrari is stuck in old ways, or he alienates fans for whom ferrari is not just a sports team, but a national institution.

And as long as Vettel and Leclerc were paired up, Leclerc would have negative PR. To replace a WDC to be the teammate of someone with a WDC was never going to shake out well because it made him look like a liability. He did not have the perceived assertiveness or the developed skill to in some people's view, justify what seemed to be a differing perspective from Vettel.

And that will always be a PR nightmare because what is there to defend a driver who is fast but doesn't have the results to show for it? It is one of the recurring issues in this period of time, he and Vettel were amicable but did not seem to have the same sentiments on their team. And just like that the predestined becomes the entitled in the eyes of his detractors. But then, just like that, Vettel is now gone, and in his place is Carlos Sainz. Does not have a WDC or WCC under his belt, and just like that, Leclerc's biggest PR issue seems tp ne a thing of the past.

The Leclerc Sainz Era

People used to want to know why Charles deserved any favor from Ferrari. Sure they liked him well enough, and he was in their view he was a logical choice for the team, Ferrari was in his veins through and through. But you will never be viewed as more deserving of team support than a proven driver with the WDC and/or WCC.

So even as people root for you, they are going to be very questioning about the capacities in which you think you may know better than a teammate, even when the team us Ferrari. But when your new teammate is also considered unproven, it changes the PR dynamic significantly. Whether Leclerc defends the team or not. is seen as assertive or not, it eases suspicions a lot, Now he just wants to win and it is unquestioned when he feels that he deserves something. Now, after all these years, people view him as being back on his fateful path, and it shows.

It is coinciding with the peak of Drive to Survive and a Ferrari that is more open to marketing its individual drivers alongside its rigid team branding and there is a tidal wave of new fans, fans who are unfamiliar with the previous understanding of Ferrari First, who approach it like other teams where you may support a team but it is driver first.

Additionally, the fanbase that IS Ferrari First has a strong association with one driver being Ferrari First in Leclerc, versus driver first in Sainz, thus feeling endeared by Leclerc. You may recall the GQ article last year https://www.gq.com/story/charles-leclerc-carlos-sainz-ferrari which sort of seeks to re-assert Ferrari's position in its branding as the most important part. But you may notice something else, which is how Leclerc is presented as the quintessential Ferrari driver.

At the time of its release, people did note favor towards Leclerc, with the phrase about Maranello "romantically imagining Leclerc a full head taller". But what went over people's heads was that from a PR perspective, Leclerc in a way became Ferrari. He is positioned as the glamour and the luxury and the romance and the European identity that Ferrari has also positioned itself as and you can see it in how people imagine him to be and what they say when they have positive things to say.

Conclusion

When Vettel was around, due to his experience, the romanticism of Ferrari was not the same, and it still is not the same based on that article, and so Charles went from a promising rookie, to a blind admirer of Ferrari and its legacy. But then Vettel was gone and in his place a less experienced driver, and so Leclerc is less irritating as a result to audiences who felt that Ferrari shafted Vettelm and Sainz came in and was viewed as disruptive and entitled but without the results to defend those sentiments. And so it became a matter of Charles is Ferrari and Ferrari is Charles, wouldn't them winning together be so romantic?

That is all for this essay folks. Thank you for patiently waiting for me to make it more coherent without the twitter links, and then waiting for me to make it a little shorter than the so called Director's Cut. As always, questions and comments are welcome.

[professionallydorkish]

OK (lots of) thoughts about tf Rise of the Beasts (spoilers below)

I'm just gonna put these thoughts as bullet points bc there's no real rhyme or reason to the flow of these thoughts . THAT SAID I watched the movie Friday night and have been stewing on some things, and reading some other people's thoughts, so thought I'd throw my own together here

OVERALL I thought it was a fun movie, and mostly good - like, I'd go back to watch it maybe 1-2 more times at the theatre. On discount ticket days or smth. That said, unpopular opinion, I don't think it was AS GOOD as people have been hyping it up to be (but I really WANTED it to be that good)

And like, I can probably tell y'all now that the things bugging me are probably nitpicky, but were bothering all the same. For instance,

Mirage - I *adored* him as a character. He was SO SWEET and fun and has SUCH FUN RELATIONS with the humans, and it's extremely enjoyable to see other Autobots forming those human relations outside of Bumblebee. BUT. Why... Mirage? There are DOZENS of other characters that could have fit this bill without having to give a total personality change to an existing character (thinking of Smokescreen, Jazz, Tracks, Hot Rod, either of the Lambo twins, even Blurr ... all of these characters can fit a youthful / pranking / kind of reckless speedster profile that cares about their appearance and is slightly anti-authority but heart of gold enough to go against Prime's wishes in a charming way). It's not *bad* to see Mirage like this, but again .... it just threw me a little bit. It also makes me curious as to what this means for characterization in the future. Again, I really liked him, thought he was super sweet, and obviously his abilities were super cool to see on screen!

I'm also extremely conflicted on having Unicron & co as the big bads for this movie. I've seen some mixed opinions on this as well, and generally agree that having Unicron as a looming presence and not actually destroyed at the end of the film was handled well. HOWEVER - and this is probably coming form my own wishes, seeing as it was called Rise of the Beasts, and REALLY just wanting to see more Beast Wars characters - I think they could've gone a different route with the antagonists that wouldn't have felt so grand life and death

Actually, tangent here, I think that was one of the things that actually had me feeling disappointed with the movie. I think I went in with expectations and standards close to what I felt after watching the Bumblebee movie for the first time. And the conflict in Bumblebee isn't some grand end-of-world threat (as seen on the screen - sure it's a looming possibility etc etc but), it's a small cast and a very personal conflict in that sense. ROTB returns to having huge stakes, larger cast of characters that can't ALL get a chance to shine, but imo not a large enough cast to take on a threat like UNICRON

So like. I'm glad that it wasn't directly Unicron, and instead got to see his power play out through Scourge and his team.

But still, I think it would've been cool to have our antagonists be those from Beast Wars as well (although I admit that I'm not super familiar with the series both tv & comics but STILL. I think it would've been cool to see Dinobot and Inferno and shit). I think this would've been SUPER COOL to see the Maximals shine even more!!

They all had such cool designs, and I really loved Primal & Air Razor. I wish we could've had more of Cheetor and Rhinox ;-;

I was actually annoyed with the resolution of the warp bridge explosion to send Unicron back 😭 particularly since it was ESTABLISHED that an explosion would have the FORCE OF A SUPERNOVA -- a fucking SUPERNOVA MY FRIENDS Earth should be PERISHED in an explosion like that!! The opening of the bridge portal to Unicron could explain SOME of the force being applied back through the opening but for the Earth to not really experience any of the damage, AND FURTHERMORE FOR NO GRAVE INJURIES TO COME TO PRIME, PRIMAL, OR NOAH/MIRAGE IN SUCH CLOSE PROXIMITY....

Just. If you're GOING to prop up something as a danger, and have an action posed as a non-viable solution to the problem (and have a good alternative ie. the passcode!), but then ultimately have to go back to explosion -- it should be held up as impactful as stated!! Like listen I KNOW we go into movies with the expectation that our friends on screen will be okay BUT OPTIMUS SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN ABLE TO GET OUT OF THAT THAT EASILY. It also, imo, feels like it weakens Primal's oath to him in his sacrifice.

Also side note I actually did quite like the humans & the interpersonal relations happening - between Noah, his brother, Elena, and with the bots - I wish there was a bit more of it even! In concept, ex-military man who values family over the country & archeologist intern, BOTH POC, are FASCINATING CHARACTERS TO HAVE AND PLAY WITH. I think there's a lot of potential.

ALL OF THIS ASIDE. I thought it was a fun movie, I'm hopeful for what the franchise will bring. I'd REALLY LIKE for Travis Knight & Studio & Bee movie writers to come back on future movies (getting to the credits of this film and realizing it was Bay, Spielberg, and NOT writers from the Bee movie actually felt like that explained a LOT for where my disappointment and story inconsistencies were coming from)

[furryprovocateur]

anyways the new GTA game's budget does concern me. we know rockstar has crunched its workers before so it's almost a certainty they're gonna crunch them again (while simultaneously sending out PR pieces about how they bought beanbag chairs to maximize their relaxation or whatever). meanwhile, how do you build up from GTA V? that game has so much shit in it already and so much content that it's almost absurd to go "we can do MORE now". like after a certain point it's too much shit. who even wants to play a game where it takes like 7 hours to drive from one side of the map to the other? sure, it's impressive, but to what end? who cares.

[fat-fem-and-asian]

Dagmara Dominczyk Filmography Review w/ Links Dag has had a great career! I think you can see her shift towards more interesting and prestige projects as she gets older, especially in the past 5-ish years, which is really interesting. Movies w/ her Polish accent have a ★ in the title, ♡ denote my favorites. If a movie isn't included, then I didn't want to watch it or couldn't find it lol. Additionally, I watched most of these projects on soap2day or flixxer!

Keeping the Faith - I could not find her in this? I think she might be improperly labeled on IMDb. Please send reinforcements and watch this Ben Stiller/Edward Norton/Jenna Elfman religious romcom.

Third Watch - Accessible on Tubi Procedural about first responders - Dag plays a morally dubious counselor that one of the EMTs gets the hots for. I actually beg everyone to watch this for a gorgeous shot of Dag over a voiceover "this chick is hot. if liz hurley and that other european chick who was in that one bond movie had a love child, this chick would be it" fair description! Rock Star ★ - Musical drama where Dag plays Tania, PR for a rock band and their resident hot girl. She's not in it a ton, but she's got a great scene where she gets to make out with Jennifer Aniston. Spoilers + transphobia CW - it's revealed midway that Tania is a trans woman, and while not really played for laughs, Mark Wahlberg's character is uncomfortable around her afterwards and she's effectively removed from the plot. The Count of Monte Cristo ♡ - Free on Youtube hell yeah! Dag plays Mercedes, the primarily love interest. She appears in the beginning scenes and after the 2/3 mark, but is pivotal to the plot. she's in some really gorgeous dresses and i assume the crew loved her because she looks fantastic the entire time. also, super great deleted scene here @ the 7 minute mark. They - On youtube! Unfortunately dull horror movie. Dag plays Terry, one of the adults experiencing night terrors based on childhood events. She only appears in a handful of scenes, but has a solo scene around the halfway point. It's alright? SVU ★ - On Hulu and Peacock. TW for CSA and graphic depictions of murder (its SVU). we all know SVU. if you don't im sorry you've missed out on the epic highs and lows of watching people get the shit knocked out of them and for a detective to connect it back to some random man they knew in high school. Dag has a prominent guest episode role as Kate, appearing at the halfway mark as a Europol agent who helps one of the characters track down a child trafficker. A lot of her walking around gorgeously and what's frankly, a great performance! She plays sensitive but firm detective very well. On Hulu and Peacock. CSA tw- suggestive images are shown of an actress who was 19 at the time, but portrayed at 14.

Tough Luck ★ - On Tubi. Please watch it. Honestly, I think worth the watch just for how weird it is. Dag plays Divana, the female lead and wife of a circus. owner. you read that right! there's a plot twist and i won't tell you what it is, but just know. i did not see it coming. On Tubi. Please watch it.

Bad Apple - I'm not even sure what to say about this movie? Dag plays Gina in a crime (?) thriller. She's sprinkled throughout the movie and is the main love interest for some guy. I genuinely enjoyed this movie but I'd suggest watching it under the influence of something to maximize the viewing experience. The Five People You Meet in Heaven - on vimeo Religious made for TV movie set in the 1940s/50s. Dag plays Marguerite, the main character's wife and oh my god she is so pretty. she's so gorgeous and talented. what was i saying? its set in a boardwalk? okay. i'll even ignore the weird racist subplot with like. a genie. sometimes we have to pay the fucking bills okay. 24 - on Hulu. Who the hell made this show up? 24 is a drama series where every season takes place in 24 hours and every episode is one hour of the day. Insane concept. Dag appears briefly as an evil lady - she's got a gun and looks great and wears some gorgeous earrings. Trust the Man - 2000s romcom! Dag has a brief role as Pamela and goes on a date with one of the male leads, there's a follow up scene where they talk briefly. Not a lot of screen time, but you know. If you're in a bad romcom mood. Mentor - on youtube Dag has the lead female role as Julia, a graduate assistant who's romantically involved with an older writing professor. She is great in this, injecting a bunch of charisma into a fairly bland film. Lonely Hearts - Warning for Jared Leto and moderate violence. Drama based on the real life murderers Martha Beck and Ray Fernandez - Dag plays Delphine, one of their victims. Dag is once again, a real talent and can truly transform what's on the page. She's got a brutal scene where she confesses her pregnancy to Salma Hayek that she executes perfectly. Also, she looks absolutely stellar in the 1940s styling. She appears around the 2/3 mark, which I recommend skipping to to minimize your Leto exposure. Helena from the Wedding - On Pluto Tangent time! My friends on discord and I made this horrific little fake movie universe called Going Down with all of our favorite middle aged actresses (including Dag and Melanie Lynskey). and who is in this? Melanie and Dag! They're paired together and have nice chemistry in this indie drama. It's pretty slow and they're scattered throughout the film, but I still recommend watching for Dag's microbangs.

Higher Ground ★ ♡ - on Roku. Do not. ask me about this film. don't even bring it in my vicinity. Dag plays Annika, the best friend to Vera Farmiga's religious main character. Dag is fantastic, she's witty and charming to Vera's more demure character and they are super homoerotic. Like Tough Luck, I actually beg you to watch this. The Good Wife ♡- On Amazon for free. Lawyer procedural - Dag has a prominent guest role as a lawyer(?) for a South American company. Honestly she's not given much, but I love her suit. I mean, its the good wife, it's like pretty good. Suits - On Netflix and Peacock Dude this is the show Megan Markle is in? Huh? Anyways - Dag has a brief role as a woman who faced sexual discrimination in her workplace. She's only got 2 scenes, but she's like...there! Felix the Painter -On Vimeo A short film about a struggling artist, but more importantly, Dagmara looking stunning and speaking french. Go girls! On Vimeo Person of Interest - Free on Amazon - TW for domestic violence Dag plays a woman helped by the main characters in escaping her abusive husband. Not the most creative role ever, but Dag does well with the stuff she's given, especially in a really short timeframe. The Immigrant ★ - On Pluto - TW for domestic violence and nudity. Dag has a minor role as Belva, one of the burlesque performers working for Joaquin Pheonix's character. She's only got three scenes, two in the beginning and one closer to the 2/3 mark, so not much to say, but a good film overall. Jack Strong - On Tubi A Polish drama featuring her husband Patrick Wilson, Dag plays a FBI agent going undercover in Poland during the Cold War. While Dag's role is fairly minor, her real life history as a Polish immigrant who fled to the US due to her father's political ties makes it worth the watch. It is, however, NUTS that she didn't actually get to play a pole. what the hell guys.

Boardwalk Empire - On HBO Dag has a guest role as a drunk bar patron. She's engaging to watch and I mean, it's Boardwalk Empire. Worth the watch. Let's Kill Ward's Wife - On Youtube A dark comedy film made with some of her friends and husband, Dag plays Ward's wife and does. guess what. get murdered! She's insufferable (but ngl I was on her character's side), which means she did her job well, but jesus. I could not stand this film.

The Deuce - On HBO Dag's got a brief role as a. adult film consultant? and wears a pretty turtleneck and has curly hair in this 70s drama. This is where she met Maggie Gyllenhaal, who would go on to cast her in The Lost Daughter! Also, apparently Dag's scenes were heavily cut down in this episode :(

Abe - On Youtube Dag plays ARIAN MOAYED's wife. It's a drama about a half Israeli, half Palestinian family. Unfortunatley, in light of Noah Schnapp's actions surrounding the genocide occuring in Palestine, I would suggest you not watch.

Prodigal Son ★- Free on the CW Drama series! Dag has a small guest spot as an assassin called the Nightingale. She looks great and gets a fun fight sequence! The Assistant - On HBO Maybe this film was good? I don't know. I was hunting for Dag and she got ONE LINE at the VERY END. Mattmac jumpscare halfway in and his big sad horse eyes.

The Lost Daughter ♡ - On Netflix Drama featuring the Olivia Colman! Dag plays Callie, pregnant sister in law to Dakota Johnson's character. I watched this movie when it came out and did not recognize Dag at all! She's scattered throughout and I barely understood this film, but, oh Dag. Her Jersey(?) accent was a beacon of light to my confusion.

We Own this City ♡ - On HBO- Warning for graphic violence and police brutality. Biopic about the Baltimore Police Department's Gun Trace Task Force and the horrific corruption that took place. Dag has a supporting role as Erika, a FBI agent investigating the Task Force. Not a super prominent role since the show balances between flash backs and the investigation, but a well made show that's very worth the watch. She gets to play a flute. The Accidental Wolf ★- I did not see this but Arian Moayed wrote and directed this? Succ supporting cast I love you! You can find Dag presenting Arian an AAM award here. My Love Affair with Marriage ♡ ★ Dag plays the lead in this funky animated film about womanhood and marriage. Honestly on first watch it wasn't my favorite, but I've really come to love it's weird musical numbers and plot. Dag has a great vocal performance as Zelma, she really has some magnetic quality to her voice. Succession ♡ ★- On HBO Dag plays Karolina Novotney, head of Communications in this drama series. The show is a little slow and honestly not for me-- can you imagine. No, Succession is the series of all time and she plays THE Karolina Novotney, hot lesbian and resident man hater. Give me a scene where she isn't glaring Tom down. Go shivlina, go girls, I'm a fan. She delivers a fantastic and subtle performance, particularly in the fourth season. I love you Karolina Novotney. Bottoms ♡♡♡♡♡- BEST MOVIE EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Dag plays a milf Priscilla ♡ - On HBO. Dag plays Ann Beaulieu, Priscilla's mom. She's pretty wonderful in this as well and gets to show off such a wide range of emotions. I love anything period piecey and Priscilla is a greattt film that actually engages with the crazy power dynamic between Elvis and Priscilla. Love Miller's Girl - On Netflix This movie was nottt for me, BUT. I loveee Dag's character in this. She's a mean horny lady named Beatrice and I swear to god my mind was REWIRED hearing Dag say "Or are some cunts....remarkable?" Honestly blows everyone else out of the water since they're doing these godawful Tennessee accents.

Congrats if you made it to the end of this review! Feel free to message me or send an ask if you watch any of these.

[aworldforastage]

just finished: 有名/In Name Only by 木更木更

a sweet, funny, and surprisingly vulnerable and heartfelt love story

Synopsis [Spoiler Free]

TV actor Xu Jingzhe and film star Liang Yu are both photographed at a hotel where a drug-fueled sex party took place. As a PR move to distance themselves from the scandal, they put on the performance of a lifetime to convince the public that they have been in a steady relationship for three years with each other.

On the one hand, they know nothing about each other and are reasonably skeptical about the other person's innocence in the hotel scandal, but on the other, they grow to become genuinely fond and attracted to each other.

Liang Yu is snarky, domineering, and seems to have all the hallmarks of having been spoiled by fame, but is surprisingly and unfailingly gentle, protective, and down-to-earth to the people around him. Xu Jingzhe finds it easy to be his friend and act like this lover, and soon the both of them are wondering maybe they never want or need to call off this fake relationship.

Audiodrama

I read the novel after listening to the first few episodes of the AD, and it really set the tone for my understanding of the novel.

There is a lot of controversy over Liang Yu's cantonese-style accent, but I think it's an absolute stroke of genius. It really impresses upon you that despite all his confidence and good qualities, Liang Yu is also a human with flaws and quirks. His friends and colleagues indulge in his little tempers and quirks because they love and respect him, and in addition to the dash of humour, it helps ground to this story about astronomically rich and famous celebrities.

I really think this is one of the better AD's I have heard recently. The performance, music, and production are totally on point, and effectively maximize the humour, sexiness, and drama in this story. Only half the episodes have released, but it's been such a joy to listen to.

Thoughts [mild spoilers ahead]

I find this story so compelling because while both characters are idealized like all danmei characters are, this is a story and relationship about people coming to terms with their flaws and imperfections. They both have genuinely unpleasant secrets they wanted to keep in that hotel, but by a stroke of luck, they found each other to get through it together.

Xu Jingzhe seems perfect in all aspects of his personal and professional life, but in reality he is intensely uptight about managing his body, career and image. The anxiety has lead to serious and long-term impairment in his sexual functioning, which in turn causes more insecurities and worries that he keeps bottled up inside.

Liang Yu is domineering and borderline controlling, but as his sister explains, he is just used to being the person in charge and protecting everyone. The model-turned-actor who leaped into the A-list on his first film role seems to have won the lottery of life, but only his closest people know that fate has already given him a nightmare origin story.

Their personalities and "flaws" work very well together. Liang Yu wants to pick out Xu Jingzhe's outfits so his lover looks perfect, and keeps tabs on him with dozens of phone calls everyday. Xu Jingzhe, however, enjoys feeling like someone is looking out and taking care of him, and it eases his anxiety. Meanwhile, Xu Jingzhe's gentle and patient approach actually reads like he is one indulging Liang Yu's impulsive tendencies.

It may seem like they are perfect for each other, but when you read this story, it becomes clear that they are actually very intentional about being good partners for each other. So despite the funny tone and (mostly) fluffy plot, it actually feels very sincere and heartfelt as a romance.

[shootertron-stuff]

On the importance of being ugly

(a story about internalized transphobia and misogyny)

Black Legionnaire responding to his trans Space Marine wife calling themselves "ugly" turning being "well, to me you are the most beautiful girl in all the worlds". "You're so hot I have no interest in human women when I have you."

(It's true. Only Space Marines can truly understand what it's like to be a Space Marine, and Space Marines like muscular women who won't crumble like an aluminum can when bear-hugged. Combining those two virtues, how can he love a human as much?)

He compares his wife to a beautiful giant carp despairing that it's not a tiny goldfish. Space Marines are just built different.

But when the wife acts like they don't believe him, because how can a 7-foot tall giantess built like a tank be the most beautiful girl in all the world? How can they compare to the dainty terminally ill maidens hubby has romanced in the past, who he could wrap one hand around?

Rather to continue to assert his wife is beautiful, the Black Legionnaire goes "so what! the galaxy would be a lot worse of a place without ugly people! they add variety to life! The beautiful people would have nobody to compare themselves to if ugly people didn't exist. It would be like having a forest of creepy identical 'perfect' dolls. I love ugly people!"

(The husband used to be part of a Emperor's Children warband with a high amount of uncannily "perfect" faces and got sick of it. He goes out of his way to promote hiring practices that maximize the amount of interesting facial features in his warband.)

"Being ugly helps you achieve fame and immortality because people remember your distinct appearance! Look at Fabius Bile! He's balding and decrepit but he's one of the galaxy's foremost sex magnets. His PR team can't suppress all the steamy romance novels about legally-distinct balding mad scientists with skin aprons."

The wife disagrees, pointing out that it's harder to be an ugly woman than an ugly man, and being a sex object is undignified.

The husband continues to ramble about the importance of ugly people to the social ecosystem. Being a man of Science and Reason, he whips out a graph showing that societies with a lot of ugly people in public have a higher quality of life. Well, it could be a correlation with an increased social safety net, but he asserts that ugly women are like the fungi on the forest floor that ensure dead stuff gets turned back into life-giving soil. After all, if there were no evolutionary benefit to being ugly, wouldn't ugly people have died out a long time ago?

Perhaps the wife just needs to see more examples of successful ugly people. He takes the wife to meet an association of ugly people who say "I'm ugly and I'm proud".

Some of these self-identified ugly people are married, have fulfilling jobs, etc etc.

The wife is still not convinced, perhaps. Well, there's benefits to wearing power armor all the time.

[hologramcowboy]

I swear what is up with male celebs dating the most problematic people. First Henry Cavill (which doesn’t surprise me because of his own comments he’s made), then Sebastian Stan (apparently he’s not dating her and is allegedly dating Annabelle Wallis now) Chris Evans, and now Dylan O’Brien. It seems like it’s a pattern for celebs to date someone who seems like a really cool person only to be exposed as either racist, homophobic, misogynistic, or fatphobic. And sometimes the person is all 4.

I honestly never had any problems with who any celeb dates and when I would see who it is, I would just be like “oh they’re so pretty” and “oh they seem pretty cool” and “I’m so happy for them” just for it come out a day later that they aren’t a decent person. Literally not being racist, homophobic, and etc.. is not that hard and is quite literally the bare minimum. It does not take that much to be a decent person. And i get those tweets are old, but everyone should know back in 2012 or 2013 or 2018 that saying a racial slur is wrong and it doesn’t matter if you were a teenager or a young adult, you should know better. And all of sudden deleting the tweets and blocking comments doesn’t necessarily mean you know better now, it just seems like you didn’t want to get caught and be held accountable. Either way, if they want to date those type of people then that’s their prerogative, but don’t expect that people will still look at you the same way. I honestly wonder what goes through their pr teams heads?

I am out of the loop on this one, has Henry's gf made other racist moves? If so 🤢🤢🤢 I hope he dumps her fast. Also, he's no stranger to stupid comments and failing to react in the face of racism and discrimination, sadly. It's why I'd rather avoid running into my idols, it's so much better to appreciate from a distance than find out celebs you love are racist, homophobic, mean, etc.

Celebs focus on image so, they are looking for perfect optics and tend to be quite shallow. So it's no surprise to me when their partners turn out to be shaddy. The thing is, if your partner is a racist but you want to claim you are not, I won't believe you because in supporting your racist girlfriend you are supporting racism so you are, in fact, a racist. People need to start taking responsability for their views. Did Henry date racist women? Yes. Therefore, clearly being inclusive isn't at the top of his values otherwise he could have never gone for a partner that has a racist mentality AND he has a history of this by now. So, while I admire his work and look, I question his views.

As for Dylan, his girlfriend seems extremely, how should I put this...lacking in neurons? My point is, I think, in her stupidity, she thought she was being cool by appropriating the n word. Which is beyond absurd. The lack of cultural awareness and empathy is quite sad. Ignorance should never be an excuse in these situations. It's why I hope that Cultural Sensitivity will be taught everywhere, because we all come from different backgrounds and cultures and we may have limitations imposed by our programming so it's important to learn about cultural differences and how to honor and celebrate them.

I question Jensen the same way due to Danneel, she was a bully in her early twitter years and also on the red carpet (see her maxim event interview where she disses bai ling) and she is truly questionable as a human, she tries to hide it through fake activism but high quality people won't buy that because they know those who truly value activism get involved on deep levels while she isn't even able to hold a coherent discouse about the causes she supposedly "supports". She also deleted her whitewashing of MLK when people pointed out that she shouldn't teach her children to white wash. Instead of using that opportunity to create a discourse and bring awareness to a highly important topic and give the people in the know a voice, she deleted their comments and then finally deleted the post. She then proceeded to call them "bullies" during a live she supposedly held to show she was an ally...I think that speaks volumes. Then there are the numerous lies from where she went to college, to how she got work, to pageant participation, to many, many more. Her character truly makes me question the real nature of Jensen Ackles' personality, because she contradicts everything he claims to stand for.